GUNSTAR HEROES
Gunstar Heroes is a run 'n gun shooter developed by Treasure for the Sega Mega Drive. As far as I know, it's pretty celebrated around here and for good reason.
The plot is very important in the same way that DOOM's plot was important. It revolved around Golden Silver, the God of Ruin, a robot programmed to suck the energy out of planets and destroy them. Many years ago, the Gunstar Heroes defeated it and sealed away its energy source - four mystical gems - in the moon. The Gunstar Heroes then sealed themselves in capsules and went into a deep sleep. All was well...
...Until a madman named General Gray decided to revive Golden Silver, believing it would bring him to Utopia. With his agents Pink, Black, Orange and Green (one of the former Gunstar Heroes now under his control), General Gray extracts the four gems from the moon. The Gunstars are awakened to stop Golden Silver once and for all.
GH can best be described as Contra with faster gameplay, more bullets, more enemies, more bosses and more explosions. It's an adrenaline rush from the moment you start until the moment it's over. The Metal Slug series must have taken a que from this game. A quote from a random site I found on the internet:
Gunstar Heroes is just one of those great "kitchen sink" moments when a group of creative people are finally given the freedom to do everything they've ever wanted. How else can one explain the sheer diversity present from start to finish? Notice, first, your choice of two main characters. In addition to firing guns, you can also throw enemies, jump kick, body dive, slide, hang from ceilings, or even block. Your choice of weapons is determined by collecting various power-up icons, and then combining them into new weapons. Want a flamethrower? How about a laser gun or a lightsabre? Would a homing beam be more to your style, or would you prefer streams of red bullets?
What I like most about GH is definitely the sheer number of choices you had to dispatch your enemies. Not only did it have 14 weapons, but the aforementioned hand-to-hand combat, throws and blocks. You can even grab the bombs thrown at you and toss them back.
It also shows an incredible technical mastery of the Genesis. The action on-screen can get more hectic than Metal Slug at times and still doesn't show any signs of slowing down, there are explosions and bullets all over the screen and gigantic bosses, all animated with great fluidity.
I always have trouble wrapping OPs up, so...discuss? Appreciate?
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Black has built a silly dice maze! Go!
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Oh god fuck that level.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Xbox : gunst4r
Master System? Gunstar Heroes is a Mega Drive / Genesis game. After a quick google search apperently there was a rare port to Sega Master System and Game Gear but even so most people will be familar with the Mega Drive version.
I bought Gunstar Heroes on Virtual Console and played it with my brother. Next time we're in same city we have to finish the fourth level and the game.
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I don't believe you.
It was also my first VC purchase.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Sorry, meant Mega Drive. Little mix up there.
Gunstar Super Heroes is a GBA remix/pseudo-sequel that reuses and tweaks a lot of the content from the original game with some drastically changed gameplay. It's mostly competent, the controls are better (no more sticking to free or fixed shot only), some parts of the game (notably Green / Seven Force) are even more awesome than their original incarnations, and the tweaked scoring system gives me a little more incentive to replay and improve, but it's a very uneven experience. It was obviously rushed. I can't think of any other way to explain why Pink's robot in the first level has no attacks (when it was shown using some in a preview video) and why some levels (the DESTROY THEM ALL stage, most notably) are just painfully barren and short.
But I liked Flicky.
There was also some sort of Altered Beast-ish stage that was cut.
Seven Force is still one of the greatest videogame bosses of all time.
get down tonight
60Hz please, Nintendo. Our TVs can cope now.
You get:
- Gunstar Heroes (JP MD version, US GEN version, beta MD version, JP GG version)
- Dynamite Headdy (JP MD version, US GEN version, JP GG version, Brazil SMS version)
- Alien Soldier (JP MD version, PAL MD version)
- superplays + replay record function
- lots of design doc materials and concept art
Only drawback is weak sound emulation.
Worth it for Alien Soldier alone, though, as the original goes for lolhueg prices.
I sold my Mega Drive
You sir, are a legend. I had no idea that collection even existed. And I flip-modded my PS2 the day I heard that Okami was going to take six ferking months to hit euroland (though I have no idea how I held out that long).
To play-asia!
But Gunstar Heroes, so so so so good. It's definitely a once-a-year game for me. I tend to favor a lighting-fire combo, though when I was younger and less-competent, I discovered that lighting-chaser is the key to easy success and lets you focus all your energies on dodging. My only complaints is that, even though I love the board game section, it is very difficult to make it through with an unskilled partner, making the game difficult to show off.
But those complaints are minor. I think Gunstar Heroes is pretty close to a master work in the field.
Not entirely true, I recall slowdown on Pink's stage in both the VC version (first game I bought on the VC too!) and my cartridge copy. But it's super rare, especially considering how much stuff was going on on that screen at any time.
High five.
LOUD AUDIO, btw.
For the record, it is 50hz, Borders, Final Destination.
I used the homing laser pretty much all of the last level. There was no way I could finish some of those parts without it.
Doesn't apply on higher difficulties. The homing weapons generally are too weak to kill everything fast enough at that point. Some weapons only really work well depending on whether you choose Free or Fixed controls, too.
Or you could just get a GameTap subscription as all 3 of those games are available there.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Including the beta/SMS/GG/international versions and the extra features? :P
The Japanese version of Dynamite Headdy is like a completely different game from the one we got. The US version is obscenely difficult at times.
No, but then again $60 for a year of GameTap is probably a lot cheaper than modding your PS2 and buying the Treasure Collection. Plus you get access to hundreds of other quality games (including Puzzle Quest, Planescape: Torment, the Fallout games, and pretty much everything and more that's included in the Genesis & Neo-Geo PS2 collections)
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
And I don't like subscription services anyway. Playing Gunstar on the Sega Channel was awesome in 1995-1997, but I prefer to have a permanent copy of games that I'd like to, you know, actually keep.
My friend and I played this constantly. He'd play Gunstar Blue, fixed shot, with some powerful projectile; I'd play Red, free shot, with the homing laser. He mostly got gun kills while I would jump all over the screen like a monkey, grabbing bombs, enemies...my friend... and throwing them while my homing laser wore down some of the larger baddies. Still my favorite game in the world. On the dice maze we'd spend more time just throwing and catching the die than actually progressing on the board.
Throwing the die was the greatest! When the die could be thrown by either P1 or P2, my bro and I went crazy trying to see who could get the last throw in. Much fun was had by all.
Ah, I'm feeling nostalgic now. When I get home from work, I'll dig up my old sega genesis and play this game again.